Love Child
by celeceravian
Summary: A Torn and Ashelin fic, since there just aren't enough of them out there! UPDATED! CHAPTER TEN IS UP! Torn's in a bit of trouble with the Baron, while Ashelin must face her grueling destiny at the hands of Sand King, Damas. Is there a chance in hell for t
1. Prologue First Touch

**Love Child**

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. They are copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA.

This is my first fic, so please R&R!

Prologue. First Touch

The first thing she felt when she awoke, was the warmth of a ray of sunlight on her bare chest, gently caressing her and guiding her senses to wakefullness.

The next thing she felt was a different kind of warmth, a different kind of radiation, hard yet soothing to the touch: it was the warmth of another body, another being, lying next to her, so perfectly still that if it were not for the slow rising of his chest as he breathed, she could have sworn that he was dead. His arm rested across her chest lazily; he shifted his head to face the moving sunray, but did not open his eyes as she, still in a daze from sleep, watched him.

Then a great and terrible realization hit her as full wakefullness came to her, and she jerked upwards, knocking the thin sheet, and his arm off in a flurry. He hardly sturred from her action, however, as he merely let out a soft groan. She turned to him, and gently shook him awake. "Torn? Torn!" she called his name, loudly.

He responded by merely turning over, still in a sound sleep.

She called his name again, louder this time, and still got no response. "Damn, he's a heavy sleeper," she muttered to herself. Then, untangling her self from the sheets that wound around her and him both, she tumbled out of bed, stood up, and shook him harder, yelling his name in the one ear that wasn't buried into the pillow. "Torn! You have to get up! Now!"

That last word finally reached his heavy handed subconscious, and he slipped into wakefullness rather roughly. "Huh? Wha-"?

he said in a groggy tone, lifting his head to find her leaning over him, with a firm expression on her face. "Ash.." he muttered softly, under his breath. "What happened?"

"What do you mean 'what happened?' You know perfectly well what happened last night!" she said, half yelling, with a smirk on her face.

He merely grinned back, before turning over again.

She shook him harder. "You can't go back to sleep. You have rounds, remember? _rounds?_ Whaddaya gonna say to your Commanding Officer if you're late for them?"

"I was with you..."she got a groggy response.

"Yeah, _that'll_ go over real well."

"With your father..." he teased.

"Don't...you don't know the consequences..."she warned him.

"I know them..."

"Good, then get up. We _both _have rounds to do." She reached, picked up her discarded uniform from the floor, and struggled into it. From his side of the bed, she heard no sounds or shuffles.

Once she had slipped into hers, she found his discarded clothes, came around to his side of the bed, and dumped them on top of him unceremoniously, before she moved towards the door. He shifted at last, sat up, grinned at her, and caught her arm before she could walk away totally. She grinned down at him, and his blue eyes sent shivers down her spine. "What do you want?" she said cooly.

"You, of course," he attempted to pull her closer, and she fought against him at first, before leaning over, and whispering into his ear.

"Not right now." Then she pulled away, walked away, and he reached her every move. "Get up. You're going to be late..."

"I will," he said, leaning over and sitting at the edge of the bed finally. "And I'll see you later tonight."

"Yes," she murmured back, as she headed to the door, opening it slightly. "Most definetely."


	2. Chapter 1 A Dinner

Love Child

Fadingshadesofpurple

Once again a disclaimer: I do not own anything. It is all copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA.

Chapter 1. Dinner with the Baron

It had been nearly three weeks since she had last seen him. Sure, she had met him on the streets during his patrols, both smiling slyly in the direction of one another as they passed each other on the crowded streets of Haven City. But, it had been three full weeks since she had last spent _time _with him. Special alone time where they could be "adventurous" yet again.

And those last three weeks had been sheer hell. She'd had to deal with patrol after patrol, a sneak attack from ensuing Metalheads on the Strip Mine, and her father's own dangerous missions. The warmth of him inside of her, next to her, all around her, had long since been replaced with the coldness of the city she lived in and dealt with everyday and night.

She longed for that warmth, and his touch nearly every waking moment of her days, and even now, as she ate dinner with a her father. It was a routine meal, and one of the very few times of the day where she spent time with her old man.

Usually, there dinners consisted of a nearly impenetrable silence, broken only by the clinks and clatters of forks and other eating utensils against plates and bowls. She usually stared off into space, aiming her gaze at the glass floor beneath them and the table, where the entire city could be seen in all of its "glory."

Occasionally, her and her father would break out into shortbits of conversation, usually pertaining to the war with the Metalheads, or some other small oddity.

Tonight, no sound flowed between the two of them, however. She watched him carefully as he ate, keeping her silence. Her fork barely touched her plate only once or twice; she couldn't tell if it was the richness of the food, or simply the stagnant silence that had caused her to not only lose her appetite, but to feel queasy. She focused her attention on the city below. The view, however dizzying it was to others, had no effect on her, and she watched as the city slowly spun beneath her as her father's immense palace drifted in a circle.

Grey buildings.

Bleak roads.

Black skies.

Would it ever change? Would the city every live up to its name...?

"Ashelin." Her father's booming voice entered her thoughts.

"Father," she acknowledged him.

"You're not eating."

"I'm not all that hungry tonight."

His only to answer to that was to give her a raised eyebrow. "The people of this city would kill for food that good, and here you are, sitting here, wasting i-"

"I don't feel well," she snapped at him, cutting him off, and narrowing her golden eyes as she glared at him.

He leaned backwards in his high back chair. "You don't look well."

"I don't?"

"You look paler than usual. If you aren't feeling well, that's no excuse for you not to eat something."

She looked down at her plate, at the fish and other foods laying there in no particular order or fashion. Taking her fork, she picked a bit of the fish off, ate it, and almost instantly regretted it, as her queasy stomach tightened once again. Dropping her fork with a clatter, she stood up, and both the sound of her clattering fork, and the screach of the chair on the floor as she pushed it back, caught his attention, and he looked up at her, gazing at her fiercely with his one eye.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"To bed. It's been a long day."

He didn't say anything; he merely nodded and continued to eat his own meal, as she walked off.

Mealtimes with her dear old father were always a pleasure and a joy.

Beneath her, the city moved about, and she felt, for the first time, herself beginning to feel lightheaded and dizzy just from watching it. Inside, her stomach clenched and tightened itself together, so much that she felt as if she would puke.'

Cursing the rich meal yet again, she entered a red panelled hallway from her father's grand dining room. Unbenknownst to her, the seed of something very special was beginning to sow itself deeply inside of her...


	3. Chapter 2 Ill fated Couple

Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: I do not own anything! It's all copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA

I want to thank all those who have read and reviewed so far! Yes, I think a story like this is long overdue on this site, and many others! So that is part of the reason why I'm writing it. (The other part is for pure enjoyment, both for myself and any fans.)

Now...

Chapter 2. Ill-fated couple

She felt so ill to her stomach, she could hardly stand. A doubled over figure was what she became when she tried, and when she moved at all, even a slight walk, the floor spun dangerously up to meet her and the cieling danced away from her. Her hands felt clammy, her arms and legs sweaty, and a terrible heat surged through her entire body, draining her of conciousness, and leaving her with nothing but a state of delirium.

On the first day of this, she stayed in bed, staring up at the high ceiling in her room, until a restless sleep claimed her. In sleep, images twirled through her mind, thoughtless objects and people, conversations that droned on, raising and lowering themselves in volume. She saw her father, the city, the countless KG officers she worked with or ordered around, and then, so suddenly, and only in a dream: him.

She heard him call her name, so gently and low in that gruff tone of his. Then she felt his gentle touch, his gentle caress along her back and shoulders and sides, as he pulled her into a warm embrace. Everything was so dreamlike and surreal; he was there, laying next to her, and yet he wasn't. She could feel him, even as he faded in her mind like so many other images before hand. She awoke, now chilled to the bone, and shivering as if on a cold winter's day. Her stomach lurched, and she barely made it to the bathroom before she retched.

The rest of that evening was spent either in bed dreaming restless nightmares, or by the toilet, where she struggled in vain to keep everything in her stomach from coming up.

By the middle of the second day, her Commanding Officer had reported to her father, the Baron, that she wasn't showing up for her daily patrols. That had gotten her father's attention, and he came to see her late that night. They're conversation was as dreamlike as her encounters with Torn; she barely remembered the conversation in her state of delirium afterwards.

By the morning of the third day, a doctor came to see her. He examined her closely, decreed it was little more than the flu, and stated that she should be better within two days of time.

By the fourth day, her delirious dreams had ended, and so had her sweats and chills, and she began to sleep more restfully.

On the fifth, she could stand without the floor spinning up to greet her, and walk about without doubling over in pain. She paced the whole length of her room several times, still found that she could break out into a cold, clammy sweat easily, and that not all of her strength had returned.

By the sixth day, she felt well enough to report for duty, and strong enough to complete her daily rounds and patrols. When those under her command in the patrol units she had command of questioned her palor and the fact that she had lost so much weight, she simply replied with more fierce orders.

Weakness was a thing she didn't like to show around those in the guard, especially, those in the guard who were male.

There was one exception to this, however.

And that "exception" was about to make his appearance in her life yet again, only she didn't know this quite yet, and wouldn't know it until the seventh night of her rather long illness-filled week.

She found him sitting alone, in a darkened booth in the back corner of a seedy pub known as the Hip Hog. A popular joint for both KG and civilians alike. He sat facing the rest of the bar, eyeing each citizen as if they were an enemy. But his attention reverted to her the moment she sauntered up to him. "Hey," he said with a sly grin.

"Do you have off?"she said, sliding into the booth across from him.

"Yeah, but just for this evening."

"Me too."

He eyed her closely, and caught the palor in her skin and the how much thinner she appeared to be. "You alright, Ash? You don't look good.."

"I've been sick for the past week with the flu, but I feel better now," she said, and his concerned gaze laxened.

"Fancy I'd see you here."

"You and I aren't all that different from each other, you know?"

"I know."

A silence. How she loved that silence that fell between each sentence they spoke to one another, but this one seemed forced, longer than usual, and there was something in his expression, a certain...aloofness..for lack of better word, that shined there.

She ignored and reached across the table for his resting hand, only to have him pull away, which annoyed her greatly.

"What's the matter?" she snapped. "We've gotten so much closer in the past..."

"I know.."he murmured.

"..and know you're pulling away from even the slightest touch?"

"I know!" he snapped angrily. Then he quieted down. "Look. I-"

"You know I've been waiting for weeks just to have the chance to have at least one word with you..."

"Ash.."

"...A conversation, _anything!_"

"Ash..."

"Even half of what we shared that evening..."

"Ashelin.."

"And when we finally get to meet, after days of missing each other, or only catching a glimpse of one another, you-"

"They're moving me," he cut her off fiercely, before turning away.

"I...What!"

"They're switching my command post.."

"To where?" she asked suspiciously.

"The Drill Platform."

After those words, there was a resolute silence. The Drill Platform echoed through her mind. Out of all of the Baron's territories, that was the farthest away, and the hardest to defend. Located at the very top of the mountains that bordered the city to the north, the KG on patrol there had not only to deal with fiercer Metalheads, but tough winter storms and blizzards as well.

"What? He can't-"

"He can, and he is."

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorow."

"But, but I might never see you again!"

Silence again, only this one was not so enjoyable. She glanced at him as he turned back to her, the pain of that realization showing clearly in his cold, blue eyes, while the rest of his face showed nothing but coldness. "Exactly," he said, his voice devoid of emotion.

"I can talk to my father about this..."

"And what good would that do! Go ahead, tell him that you want me to stay here because of your feelings for me, and watch his reaction. He'll laugh at you at best, and then remind you that this war is more important than anything else! And judging from the look on your face, you know it too!"

"You're right. I do. And I can see you're anger about it as well."

Another silence. His calm and cool returned, and a sly grin came to his otherwise expressionless features. He stood up suddenly without warning, and grinned down at her. "We are nothing in his eyes, you know Ash. Just pawns in a bigger game created by him. And pawns, aren't allowed to have side stories to their lives." Then he walked off, slowly, as if he had nothing to lose.

She stood up and called after him. "That's not true, and you know it!"

"If you think that, than you're naive," he called back to her quietly, before walking out the door.

The shock of that statement kept her from running after him in desperation from the start, so she stood their like the fool that she felt she was, while others around her glanced up at her in confusion. Then a new emotion, anger, burned within her, and she flew through the sliding doors of the Hip Hog, out into the open air of the port. Looking around frantically, she called his name, but only the cries of the gulls in the port answered her.

He was gone.

And she was alone.

"Damn it!" she muttered to herself, startling an old man as he walked passed her. "Damn you, Torn! Good riddance to you then!" She cried out in anger, tears forming themselves in her eyes.

"And goodbye..."


	4. Chapter 3 Bekka

Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. It's all copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA. Bekka is my creation though.

Now...

Chapter 3. Bekka

She glanced up at the hazy sky above, as tufts of smog became visible, as they often did when sun graced the Haven City with it's rays. It was a pity that it's tough rays could barely penetrate the city's thick smog, and yet a blessing as well. She knew very well that when the smog wasn't visible, which was very rare, the city appeared to be very garish and ugly, even more so, under the golden sun.

She heard the gulls cry in the distance, as they bucked and dove into the rollicking waves, catching fish with their beaks and flying off to someplace where they could feast. In the port's filthy water, boats and war machines floated and drifted to the noisy sea.

She stared off into it, her mind wandering.

"Heya," a voice, female, and with a distinct tone to it, caught her attention, and she turned to face the speaker, who perched at the edge of the Port's circular, stone walkway. "You zoning out on me now?"

"No, Bekka, I was just looking that's all."

"Lookin' for what?"

She sighed before speaking. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

"I don't believe that," Bekka murmured. "Not at all."

"Who gives a shit about what you believe," Ashelin snapped back at her, a fierce tone in her voice.

"Woah," Bekka said slowly, leaning back to gaze up at her friend. "What's gotten into you? You weren't this rotten the last time I spoke with you."

"Don't you have work you have to be doing?" Ashelin snapped again, unwilling to part with the issues that were plaguing her heart and mind.

"My work's done at night. That's when I pick up all my customers..and all the good Underground secrets," she grinned slyly as she said this.

"Sleazy, isn't it?"

"Yes, of course. Just like this city."

"I hate this city," Ashelin snapped, and it came out sounding much more bitter than she had intended it to. So much that Bekka caught onto its bite instantly.

"Won't you tell me what's on your mind? That's what I'm here for remember? A place to vent about things you would never tell your father, or anybody else? And vice versa? You would lend an ear to my complaints when and if I have them?"

There was a silence between them. More gull cries. More crashing waves. The sounds of footsteps on the cement of the pavement around them.

"It's been two long weeks since they've sent him away."

"Sent who away? That KG officer I've seen you with in the past? What's his name?"

"His name is Torn," came the saucy response.

"And...?"

"It's been two long weeks...and I don't even know if he's alive or dead..."

"I'm sure he's fine, knowing his type."

"I hope so. I'm still pissed off at him though. He left in such a huff, without saying goodbye properly. The ass, I hope he gets it kicked up there for that. Well, anyways, just a little."

Bekka smirked up at her, knowing full well what was going through her friend's mind.

Ashelin continued. "And it's not just that..."

"What else is there?"

"I just haven't been feeling real well, since that flu I had a couple weeks back."

"You had the flu?"

"Yeah. I felt awful. I couldn't stand or walk without getting dizzy. I had a high fever. I was retching constantly. Now, for the last few weeks, every time I wake up in the morning I feel nauseous, and sometimes the feeling doesn't go away until later in the day. And I still feel weak and achy from time to time."

Bekka responded with silence, and then a smirk. "If you don't mind me asking..."

"Asking what?"

"Just how far did you two go?"

"That's none of your business!" Ashelin snapped, wondering at the same time, why she had gotten so touchy.

"That just about answers my question, then..." Bekka murmured.

"What?"

"You two went all the way, didn't you?"

"I-You-Yes, we did. But what's it to you?"

"Was it safe?"

"Wha? Oh, no it wasn't."

Bekka smirked even further, before standing up to face her friend directly. "Ashelin, dear, come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"To a see a woman named Onin. Ever hear of her?"

"No. Who is she?"

"She's a soothsayer who lives in the Bazaar. She can see anything in the future, and she may be able to help you with your condition."

"My...condition? What the hell do you mean by that!"

"Uh uh uh!" Bekka replied with a smirk, taunting her friend as she walked a little further down the pavement. "You'll learn more when we get to Onin's."

"Why can't you just tell me now?"

Bekka paused, and looked her friend directly in the eye. "Wait until we get to Onin's. I want to be sure." Then, she grabbed her friend's arm, before Ashelin could react to that last statement, and pulled her in the direction of the mysterious soothsayer named Onin...


	5. Chapter 4 Onin

Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for Bekka, everyone else is copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA.

Chapter 4. Onin

Onin's home, located in the bazaar, was not very easy to access, by foot or by vehicle. With the usual traffic both on the ground and in the sky, it was already noon by the time the two girls reached their destination: a dusty, dingy block surrounded by small, diseased shops. A rather large tent was pitched in the center of this block, adjacent to anything surrounding it. When Bekka stopped at its entrance, a brown canvas flap, Ashelin assumed that they had arrived at their destination, although she did wonder how she had never noticed this place before on her patrols. "Oh well," she murmured to herself. "Guess I don't know the city as well as I should..."

"She's in here," Bekka had the flap partially open, and she was gesturing for her friend to come inside. A warm eery glow of yellow and red, all only a preview of what would be found inside, caught Ashelin's eye, and mesmerized by it, she followed her friend into the tent of the mysterious Onin.

Inside, a plethora of wonders greeted her. Strange Precursor artifacts and relics hung from the cieling, bowls and various lurker carvings littered the floor, while spiders and other strange bugs crawled in and out of the tent flaps and the objects the tent housed. A mystical dust, blue in color, lured the two girls even further in, where, at the center of this unkempt home, Onin sat, spinning designs of blue and purple with her hands, as a large bird, who appeared to be napping, perched on her hat.

She stopped her spinning at the sound of the two girls approach, and made a gesture, her pure white eyes glistening, her wrinkled mouth forming a frown. The gesture woke the bird from its nap, and, glaring down at its master, it shook its wings and snapped. "What is it? Onin, you know I was catching some shut eye..."it said in a rather annoying tone.

Onin gestured in the direction of her visitors, and the bird stopped fluttering. "Oh," he said flatly. "I see. We have guests." Flapping his wings, it took flight and landed on the floor in front of the girls. "Onin's busy today. You'll have to come back some other time."

A fierce clap resounded from behind the bird, and blue dust flew everywhere, while the strange animal made a face akin to a kid who had just gotten his hand caught in the cookie jar. "I mean...Onin extends her welcome."

But Ashelin, already annoyed at the "show" before her, turned to go in disgust. "I've had enough of this. I'm out of here."

Bekka caught her arm. "Wait..."

The bird continued on with his speech. "I am the great Pecker, Onin's interpreter. What can we do for you today?" Pecker said, bringing the ends of his wings together in gesture of readiness.

"Well, my friend here, needs some of Onin's consultation, if you don't mind," Bekka said to the talking animal. "You should recognise her as the Baron's daughter..."

At this Pecker's eyes widened, and he flew back to Onin, who narrowed her eyes, as if she was studying the girls before her. "I'll leave you two alone," Bekka said, turning to go. She had already disappeared out the entrance of the tent, before Ashelin could stay anything to stop her.

"Sooo.." Pecker's annoying tone brought her back to the two seated before her. Onin was making a flurry of gestures with her hands, as blue dust flew everywhere. When she stopped, Pecker, as ordered, translated. "Onin says that the whereabouts of someone very important to you is weighing on your mind.."

"You got that right," Ashelin responded, as if the statement didn't even phase her at all, when in fact, she was, indeed, quite impressed. How had this woman known that?

"Onin says," Pecker continued. "That this special 'someone' is quite alright. He's suffered some minor wounds from a group of invading Metalheads, but other than that, he is alive and well."

"Will he be returning to the city anytime soon?" she asked, now very intrigued, and hoping to hear a good answer.

"Onin says that she is sorry, but it does not look like he will be. A snowstorm is brewing in the mountains, that will prevent him and anyone else from leaving where he is stationed."

Ashelin slumped her shoulders at this. "Just tell me, will he be alright?"

"He will be."

"Good."

"Now go on, get out. I need my rest-"

Another fierce clap of a gesture followed on Onin's part, followed by a flurry dust. "Wait, Onin says there is more," the bird said helplessly.

"What else is there?"

"She says that she senses something deep within you. A presence, a life force, something more precious than any tree or plant."

"I don't understand," Ashelin said, frowning, as she tried to discern Onin's fast flying symbols and gestures herself.

"Onin says the seed of life itself is being sown with you."

A strained silence, then Ashelin widened her eyes at this. "What?" she gasped. "You don't mean to say...?"

"Yes, you are with child."

"What!" she said again, more angrily this time. "That can't be. How the hell would you know that!"

"She is the great Onin. She can see far and wide into the future. And she can tell that this child will be no ordinary one. Born of two great parents, one of which is currently fighting monsters and snowstorms with no knowledge of this at all, it will likely have a destiny which could change the course of this city for years to come."

"I-I don't know what to say. I mean, I-I don't believe you!" She said this, even as the information Onin had revealed seemed to click with a part of herself, and she felt the words to be true without a doubt.

"Ask any doctor for a pregnancy test. It will come out positive, she assures you."

"I-" she choked back the sentence.

"Onin also says the baby will be a girl."

At this, Ashelin had to smile, but that smile was soon replaced with her usual stern frown. "Will see about this," she snapped. "I'll go to a doctor, and hopefully prove you wrong." With that she turned to go, forcing the tent's heavy flap out of her way with a slight growl, only to find Bekka, seated next to it. At the sight of her friend's emergence, however, Bekka stood at once. "Pregnant, aren't you?" she said with a smirk.

"That woman's nothing but a quack!"came the angry response.

"Oh, come now, Onin's usually right about everything."

Ashelin slumped her shoulders at this, then began to walk away. "Where are you going?" Bekka called after her.

"To see a doctor..."


	6. Chapter 5 Blizzard

Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. It's all copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA.

Chapter 5. An Unwanted Surprise

"Damn it!" Ashelin screamed in frustration, slamming her fist into a nearby wall as she did so.

"Relax, Hon," Bekka, who had followed her loyally from Onin's tent to the closest doctor, stood outside that said doctor's office, trying to desperately comfort her friend.

"Relax? _Relax? How the hell am I supposed to relax? _I not only find out that I'm pregnant, but I don't even know if the father is alive or dead. All I know is, if he were here right now, alive and well, I'd kill him. Absolutely kill him! I mean, what would he say? Worse, what would my father say?" As this flurry of words came forth from her in frustration and anger, she paced about furiously, and Bekka watched her, shaking her head slowly.

"Who says you gotta tell your old man?" Bekka cocked her head forward.

"_What! _Not _tell _him? Are you crazy? He'll find out when I start showing..."

"You can learn to conceal it.."

"Learn to conceal it, yeah, that'll work," she muttered back sarcastically. "Aww..what am I going to do now, huh?"

Bekka came forward, and laid a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. "You'll think of something. No, we'll think of something, so don't worry..."

Meanwhile, in the wild snowy mountains North of Haven City, Torn was dealing with a nightmare in terms of snow and Metalheads. He stood in his office, a large room that overlooked the entire drill platform practically, and glared out the window at the snow that fell freely from the sky. This would be their third major snow storm in two weeks, and that was only more bad news for Torn's post: more snow would make it harder to stop any Metalhead attacks.

He had learned this the hard way when, on just the second night of his new post, a blizzard came to the drill platform, bringing with it furious winds and cold temperatures along with the snow. His men, sent to guard not only the entire drill platform, but the men who worked the drills that pulled up the fresh eco, found it not to their advantage. The drill platform workers would drag up huge barrels of eco, and the soldiers would stock them onto the Baron's well equipped Eco Tankers, which would take the eco to the palace, and anywhere else it was needed. The winds pressed against them, the snow fell in droves, lowering visibility to near blindness.

It was all seeding grounds for a Metalhead attack, and many of the soldiers there, including Torn, knew it, so no one dared to breath the words "It could always be worse."

For no one had to in order for things to get worse.

Twelve men had fallen: 5 soldiers and seven workers, before anyone knew that the Metalheads were launching an attack. Torn acted as quickly as he could once it became clear that Metalheads were in the area, dishing out orders to the those under his command to guard the eco tankers and the precious eco being delivered to them, while the workers worked double to load the barrels of eco into the tankers as quickly as possible. No easy task with the winds blowing as they did at that time.

Even with the new awareness, Torn lost nearly half of the men he had brought with him to the post in that first storm alone.

Afterwards, he was given a break.

Then the second storm came, and the casualties rose in numbers yet again.

The Baron, after both those storms, recieved half of his ordered quota of eco. Furious, he had contacted Torn in a rage, demanding that patrols be doubled and more caution taken during storms. While Torn argued his position that more men were needed for this task, and that the Baron needed to send these soldiers as quickly as possible. The Baron won out over Torn's pleas, refusing to send him the men, and blaming him fully for the losses. Furious at his own helplessness in the situation, he found that his reputation was slowly dying within the Baron's eyes.

He was also learning fast that the Metalheads were clever bastards who loved to camoflage themselves behind large snowstorms before attacking their targets with all the fury they could muster.

This brewing snowstorm, Torn could see from his window, would bring "promise" of another full-blown attack that he would have to deflect, even with the limited amount of men and supplies he had.

"Damn you, Baron Praxis," he muttered under his breath.

"Sir?" one of his men, standing patiently behind him the whole time, caught his attention. Torn turned to face this man, and found a soldier so covered in snow that he resembled a snowman in crimzon.

"Reports?"

"Yes. It doesn't look good. The winds are increasing, and the snow's worsening. It looks like there will be another blizzard."

Torn closed his eyes, momentarily cursing what he already knew to be true. "Then we must be ready for an attack at all costs."

"Yes, sir."

"With the snow being what it is, the best way to sense the presence of a Metalhead attack is through sound. We can hear them better than we can see them, even if they're using cloakers, which they often do. So keep your ears pealed, and be prepared for a full-scale attack."

"Yes, sir," the man nodded, and then ducked out of the office.

With that, Torn headed for his own personal armory, and bundled up for the storm and the battle that he knew in his very being would come. Stepping out of his office into the open air, the blast of cold wind nearly knocked the wind out of him. No matter how many layers of clothing he wore, or how much winter proof armor he donned, he still found the cold seeped through to his very being.

Only one thought stopped the cold midway: the thought of her, the warmth of her lying next to him. He longed to see her more than anything else, not merely just for conversation but to apologize for the way he had acted the last time he had seen her.

He had been angry, not at her, but her father, as he was infuriated with the proud dictator now, and he had chosen to take his anger out on her during the last time they had been together. How foolish on his part; he should have realized that he might never see her again. That he might lose his life in this god forsaken hellhole where snow and wind were the only company you could find.

That, and ensuing Metalhead attacks.

He looked to the cloudy sky above him; looked to drill platform beneath and around him.

How many would he lose tonight in this battle?

And would his own life be taken as well?


	7. Chapter 6 A Decision

Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for Bekka. Everything else is copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA.

Here's Chapter six, sorry it took so long to produce.

Chapter Six. A Decision

Ashelin approached the palace as nonchalantly as she could, swaying her hips back and forth as she walked up the immense stairs that led to the front doors of her father's abode. They acknowledged her pass, and slid open with a click. She entered them without hesitation, Bekka's advice at the back of her mind all the while.

"_I'm afraid the best thing you can do right now is try to make contact with the father in person as soon as possible, and against all odds. After that, you can go from there..."_

She approached the elevator, stood on it, and rode it to the top floor.

The doors of the elevator slid open, revealing a long hall red panelled hallway. She stepped out onto it, heading down it towards her room, where she intended to grab some things. Bekka's advice was the only thing she had right now, and she was determined to follow it as best she could.

She already had a plan in mind: the next eco tanker was due to drop off shipments of eco at the palace in an hour and a half. She would sneak aboard it, and let it carry her to the drill platform, where, she could hopefully meet up with Torn. Their rendezvous would hopefully not be too long, just long enough for them to make a plan, before her father realized she was missing, and sent out a searching party.

It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was fairly solid, and she figured that she had a good chance of carrying out.

She was about to be proven wrong.

Just as she was rounding the corner of the long narrow corridor, she heard a voice, slick and oily call her from behind. "Ashelin, my dear, where are you going?"

She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, as she recognised the speaker almost instantly. She turned to face him, glaring at him as she did. "Erol, why do you care?"

Erol, his arms crossed over his chest, and a smug grin on his face, responded just as coolly as he had when he had called to her. "Because, you're father requests your attention."

"Tell him I'm busy," she snapped. Errol's smug grin made her a little nervous. Was it possible that he knew, and had already alerted her father? Errol had a knack for getting into business that he shouldn't...

But no, he continued, dismissing her views as merely paranoid: "He has a new mission he wishes to assign you."

She sighed inwardly, but answered him as quickly as possible. "Can it wait?"

"No. It's urgent. He's assigned it to you specifically, and no one else, because he doesn't believe anyone else can carry it out. And he believes that you are well enough to carry it out as well. And seeing you standing here before me, I second the notion."

She sighed outwardly, realizing that her plan would have to be put on hold, for however long it would take for this mission to last.

She followed Errol down towards the throne room, feeling suddenly, a sense of entrapment, of doom, that she could not shake no matter how hard she tried...

His ears perked, his eyes gleaming the white of the misty cloud before him, his skin prickling against the cold and the snow and the ice that fell in heavy, leaden sheets, all for the enemy.

He had heard, through the roar of the blizzard, an all together different sound that could not be made by man or by nature; only by Metalhead. Moments later, purple streaks flew through the air, splitting the snow with a fast sounding "fizz"ing sound. Two of his men dropped to the ground, dead, and after that his senses grew even more alert.

He heard a scream, a horrendous crunching sound, and before he knew it, three stingers materialized out of the snow, covered in it like little snow demons, heading straight for him. He dodged their dark eco fire, rolling out of the way, and taking cover behind a few barrels of dark eco, the only cover he could find. The stingers swarmed about overhead, trying to find their prey in the blizzard. He pulled out his blaster, aiming at the nearest one, and firing at its head. The shot to the head was enough; it crumbled to the ground, a yellow skull gem bursting from it seconds later.

The blast from his gun caught the attention of the other two, and they turned, honing in on him as they did so. One from behind, the other from the front. As they both fired, he dove out of the way, rolling down the high hill that the platfrom he had stood on sat atop. They hit the barrels of eco that had been his hiding place instead, and he heard them explode as he rolled away from them, eco splattering everywhere. At the bottom of the hill, he rolled to a halt, stood up, and got his bearings.

Gun fire could be heard in all direction, harsh screams, roars that only Metalheads could make. From a distance, he could see some twenty to thirty grunts running towards the drill platform, and his men, who were fighting them to the best of their ability. Several of them had already been downed, he noticed, but he couldn't figure out why. A grunt was the easiest of the Metalheads to take out, even in such horrible weather conditions...

The he caught a gleam of something silver mixed with yellow, bouncing back and forth behind the line of grunts. It lasted only a second, but in that short fraction of a second, he realized what it was and what was tearing through his men so quickly.

Cloakers. On top of all this mess.

At this realization, he ran as fast he could towards a clump of his men, who were firing like crazy on the stampeding Metalheads, hoping to take down as many as they could before the Metalheads could reach their cluster.

On his way there, Torn stumbled over something buried deep in the snow. A man partially frozen and partially dead, his eyes crazed, gazing around him at the chaos that was being sown. It was not the man's gaze that caused Torn to pause slightly, but his words, as he tried to speak. "The guns.." he muttered. "They've been jamming...because of the ice...beware..."he huffed, then fell silent. Torn shook him harder, but the man's eyes slid closed in death.

Purple streaks of eco, dashing passed him, caught his attention and brought him back to his senses. Another steady stream of eco came, hitting the ground next to him as he dodge rolled yet again out of the way, leaving a smoldering hole in the ground and evaporating the snow. He turned to face the Metalhead that had chosen him for his prey, and the firing stopped.

A half visible Metalhead, bounded away, pulling up its yellow shield as it did so. "Damn it!" he swore, firing on it like mad as it bounded away and then disappeared completely. He stood up, focusing first on the dead man, and then on the still smoldering hole in the ground where he had once stood, then he shook his head and moved on.

He had almost made it to the cluster of his own men, still firing like crazy, when another cloaker materialized before him, and he, unable to stop in time, slid into. This action knocked it over, and both tumbled over each other in the snow, both grappling with one another to pin the other one down. The cloaker, fast in its reflexes, slashed in a sweeping manner towards its new prey, slicing at Torn's abdoment as it did so.

Torn, although well-known for his own quick reflexes, was not able to dodge this attack so well, and the Metalhead managed to slice away a good portion of his armor down to the skin. He cried out as it did so, sliding downward in the snow even more. As the Metalhead came to tower over him in victory, he found his arm gripping his gun, pulling it up, and aiming it at the Metalhead's skull crown, with the realization that this might be the last time he would ever use it crossing his mind as he did so. He pressed down on the trigger...

...only to have the blaster jam on him.

"Shit," he muttered, turning it sideways. "It's frozen.." he muttered. "Fuck..."he couldn't say anymore, for the pain of his previous wound was slowly creeping up on him, as the shock of the situation hit him. The Metalhead above him let out a sound that Torn could've have sworn was akin to something like a laugh. He closed his eyes, and swore again at his helpless position.

An image crossed his mind of a very special person.

"Ashelin..." he muttered the name of the person.

While the Metalhead above him raised its deadly, razor sharp talons; its keen, yellow eyes gleaming its vicitim for the best striking point...


	8. Chapter 7 Mission's Up

Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: Once again, nothing is mine. It is all copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA. Wish it was, 'cause that would mean I was filthy rich. 0.o;;;

And...

Chapter Seven. Mission's Up

Torn knew, as he lay there trapped beneath the Metalhead cloaker, that the jig was very well up for him. But he was a fighter, and he was determined to not let things end in such a way. As the Metalhead poised its mighty talons to make the final blow, Torn reached slowly for the knife attached to his back, and slowly brought it out, waiting and watching the poised Cloaker.

As the cloaker brought it's talons down in an attempt to finish off his victim, Torn twisted as hard as he could to the right, and brought his dagger up, jamming the pointed end of it into the glowing skull gem atop the Cloakers head.

His movement hadn't been fast enough, however, as the cloakers talons caught his side and tore through it like scissors to a piece of paper. A blinding pain seared up and down his side, and he nearly missed his mark with his blade.

The strike to the skull gem proved to be fatal for the Cloaker, however, and it crumbled on top of him, its body giving way to a pool of dark eco that faded into the snow.

For several moments, Torn lay there, his side throbbing, and bleeding lifeblood out where it mixed with the snow, and froze with seconds later. He felt as if all of his energy had been zapped from him, and he knew, that the longer he laid there, the shorter his life would be.

He turned his head ever so slightly, even as his vision blurred, and the pain in his side grew worse. Despite his blurred vision, and the harshness of the wind and snow that blew furiously around him, he saw a green glow in the snow not far from where he lay.

He knew it to be a health pack almost instantly, and while he could make this good judgement easily, it was getting over to the health pack that would be difficult.

He didn't have much of a choice though: it was either bleed to death in this frozen hellhole, or at least try to make an attempt to grasp at somehing life saving.

He shifted his weight, turning over on his stomach in the process. More pain seared through him, and he stopped moving instantly, gasping for breath and for a tiny second of relief that never came. He moved the green health pack in his sights, and, using his arms, began to pull himself towards his only hope. It was slow, painfully slow, as his side felt as if it had burst into flames, and new fire was constantly being added to it as he moved, but he finally reached the pack. Taking a sigh of relief, he ripped it open...

...only to find that it was nearly empty. Only a single pack of green eco lay in it, and he knew that, with his side bleeding so profusely, he would need more than that. Still, the sight of this disappointment, didn't slow him in the least bit. He took the pack and tore it open, pouring its contents on a bandage inside the kit, the only bandage left.

Once the bandage had been saturated enough with the life-saving green substance, he wrapped it around his side as best he could, feeling the warmth of it seep into his body as it went to work healing this vast and nearly fatal wound.

After that, he lost all strength, and lay there as still as possible half on his side, half on his stomach. He heard the sounds of fighting all around him: men screaming, guns being fired, searing balls of dark eco tossed by Metalhead stingers, crunching metal, and the sounds of rolling barrels. The darkness of the snow and the blizzard grew even darker, and the multitude of sounds he heard evantually merged into one single harmony of chaos and destruction.

Through it all he lay there helplessly, the feeling of the warmth of the green eco up and down his wounded side the only peace he found in such a state warfare. He felt it weakening, and he felt himself begin to drain even more. Evantually, it became too painful for him to even keep his eyes open, so he closed them, and willed silently for the green eco to work faster, even as it faded away some more.

The sounds around him dulled.

The sensations inside of him lingered for a short while.

Then darkness enveloped him...

Ashelin found her father in his usual position: pacing in front of his throne like an angry bear, some papers clutched in his hand. For a moment, she didn't know what to say as she stopped before him, fearing that he would be angry with her for obvious reasons.

He stopped pacing at the sight of his daughter, and called for his commander, Errol, who had followed her down all the way from her bedroom to the throne room, and handed him the papers before dismissing him.

Then he looked his daughter squarely in the eyes, and she gulped inwardly. She felt her whole body begin to cringe and then grow hot with anticipation.

"Ashelin, I have a new mission for you. One that only you can carry out."

Inwardly she breathed a sigh of relief, and her caved out to it. She only hoped, afterwards, that her old man hadn't seen that.

"Father, can't this wait until morning?" she asked suddenly.

He glared at her. "No, it cannot wait until morning. The mission is going to be carried out tonight, and later."

"T-Tonight?" she nearly choked. "B-but it's nighttime?" she found herself stammering.

He eyed her suspiciously, and she caught herself in check. This wouldn't be the first time her father had assigned her a nighttime mission, and during those other times, she had taken it without complaint.

"I mean, so it's nighttime. What is it that you want me to complete?"She said this as nonchalantly as possible, but inside she felt her heart sink. She would not be able to see Torn tonight as planned after all. She was pretty sure, judging by how set and stern her father's expression, that she would not be able to get out of this mission, at least not without some suspicious behavior.

"We've discovered a new cavern in the Wastelands to the west of here. It houses a multitude of important precursor artifacts that must not fall into the wrong hands, and by the wrong hands, I mean, the Metalheads. The creatures, I am sure, are also on to the location of this cavern and are taking as many precautions as we are to capture it before we do. Thus, your mission tonight is to take a handful of soldiers, fly out there, and grab all of the precursor artifacts before the Metalheads arrive."

"I see," she replied. "There will be a lot of fighting, I presume?"

"Yes, if you get there to late, then you will have to fight the Metalheads for it. Even if you get there early, expect hostiles, and be alert for them. This is no easy task, but I fully believe that you are capable of handling it."

She nodded in response.

"In half an hour, you will rendezvous at the port, where an air train will take you and those select few under your command to the cavern. After that, you're on you're own. Now, get moving..." he said, turning his back to her in the process.

For several seconds she stood there, her heart torn between defying her father's orders and heading out to see Torn herself instead, and carrying them out. She weighed the risks in her mind, however. If she defied her father's orders, she would undoubtfully bring suspicion to herself, not to mention many repercussions. Even though, she was the Baron's daughter, she was still apart of his military, and subject to the same punishments that everyone else in it was subject to if they acted out.

She turned to walk away, glad that her mind was weighing her options more logically, and ignorning her heart.

She would complete this mission, and then find a way to meet up with Torn afterwards.

It was the only choice she had left.


	9. Chapter 8 A Cavern of Treasures

Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: Once again, none of the characters are mine (unless stated otherwise.) They are all copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA. Don't sue me.

For those of you that read and didn't review, I hope you've enjoyed it so far. You would tell me otherwise, right? (right?) Anyways, to those who read and reviewed, thanks! A special thanks goes out to Jak Fan and Ecohorse, who have been reviewing the most. Thanks guys! I only hope I won't disappoint you in the future chapters.

And it appears that I have made a mistake in the former chapters. The creatures that attack the drill platform are cloakers and Metal Jackets. I had confused the Metal Jackets with the stingers. Stingers, which appear in this chapter, are the little ground hiding scorpion like creatures that leap out at you at said, annoying times in the game. Metal Jackets are those creatures that fly and hurl balls of dark eco at you, and these were the creatures that were attacking Torn inittially, not the Stingers.

Anyways, no more banter from me. Here's chapter 8. Quite possibly the longest chapter in this story so far.

Chapter 8. A Cavern of Treasures...

The air train rocked gently back and forth as it hurtled across the barren wastelands towards its destination. Inside, a group of Krimzon Guard, along with Ashelin, jerked back and forth with the rocking motion of the air train. Ashelin sat a short distance from those under her command, listening carefully to their rough small talk, and barely hearing it over the noise of the zooming air train. Evantually, her own thoughts blocked their talk out completely.

She shifted her hand down to her abdomen, where an extra piece of armor had been snapped in place, all to protect her usually bare stomach, hips, and abdomen. Slipping her hands underneath the armor, she pressed against the skin underneath as gently as she could, feeling for a bulge, a sign, anything that indicated that she was now carrying yet another life inside of her own. She felt nothing though, and removed her hand, disappointment curiously forming itself in the back of her mind.

Suddenly thoughts of Torn, the baby's father, filled her mind. She smirked a little at the questions that followed.

What would he think?

What would he say?

What would he do?

She had only this mission to complete before she would find the answers to those questions.

The air train came to a halt suddenly, and a loud hissing noise, one akin to the sound of a humongous vacuum cleaner being turned on, sounded. She stood up, brushed her thoughts aside, and focused her golden eyed gaze on the air train's door as it slid open. A blast of heat hit them from the outside, nearly knocking some of the KG over, but Ashelin held her ground.

Hastily she stepped forward, quickly barking orders out to those under her command as she stepped down from the air train onto the soft desert sand. The fire in her eyes was nearly unquelchable as she viewed the scene around her with determination. Off to the distance, the sand dipped quite a bit. A rocky path formed itself at the bottom of this hill, a path led that led to a rocky formation even further in the distance.

"That must be our location," she shouted over the drone of the air train, and whipping winds of the desert. "Follow me! Move quickly and keep your eyes pealed for any Metalhead activity! Got that?"

"Yes, ma'am," the responded automatically.

"Good. Then Move out!" She started off, and they followed, as she moved for the rock formation she was certain was the cavern her father had mentioned before. Beyond it, only a sea of sand could be sand, a sea of sand that met with a cloudy sky at the horizon. They stepped down the dip, each in formation: Ashelin, a group of men at the front, and another larger group at the rear.

They followed the path until they came to the rock formation. Here she took command again. "Stand guard for any metalhead activity," she said to them. "I'm going to look for an entrance to this thing." They all moved in position, craning their heads to view the sky and the area all around them. All was calm, as things should be.

Meanwhile, Ashelin moved around the rock formation, hoping to find a large hole or something of that sort that would indicate it was, indeed, a cavern. She circled it nearly halfway, and found no luck, but the fire and determination attributed to her character would not allow her to give up. She moved about the cavern some more, shifting her hands and knocking on the rocks for anything that sounded hollow. Perhaps the entrance was hidden behind a rock. She came three quarters, and found what she was looking for. She knocked on a rather thin, yet tall, slab rock and heard a distinct echo ricochet from behind it. She grinned at this, for she believed that she had found the entrance. Signalling to her men, they circled her, and she ordered three of them of the lift they heavy slab and move it out of the way. Each took their position, and shifted it aside, until it revealed what Ashelin had known all along to be under the slab: a tall, slim black hole of an entrance, that could only lead to the treasures her father expected her to bring back.

"We move on," she turned to her men, before stepping into the darkness without hesitation. The ground beneath her feet felt hard, not sandy, as she moved through the cavern's narrow walkway: a series of rock steps bedecked on either sides by high rocky walls that led to a cieling of darkness. The floor stayed as hard, but the walls became increasingly slimier as she went, feeling her way through the darkness by grasping these very walls alone. Evantually, one wall dropped off, and she found that the rocky stairwell turned around a wide, and deep chasm. Thick, rocky columns towered out of this chasm, and she could see, with what little ligth she had, Precursor Runes glistening on them.

Evantually, the rocky stairwell came to an end, and a new path began, one that led them through yet another narrow passageway. This one winding, and the cieling low and made of rock. The floor was slippery, and she heard little droplets of water falling from the cieling. "_Water? Where the hell could that be coming from?"_ she thought to herself, but then shrugged it off. She was here to find ancient artifacts, and her thoughts should be focused on the wherabouts of those artifacts.

She had not yet realized that she and her team were heading into a very dangerous situation.

They came to the end of this passageway finally, and found themselves in a wide open cavern. Tall stalagmites and stalagtites jutted out from the cieling and the floor, along with more columns. Ashelin approached one of these columns, and touched it, fascinated to find that more Precursor runes glistened at her touch. She looked in the distance, as her men moved about her in awe at the spacious cavern and whatever treasures it would hold.

Water droplets rained down from the cieling, and that sound, besides the sound of their own footsteps was the only sound that could be heard. She looked up, and headed to a wall in the distance. A fascinating wall, she found, to be carved into a series of shelves, each housing a precious precursor artifact. "Bingo," she muttered to herself with a smirk.

Her victory, however, would not last forever. For suddenly, she heard a shifting in the part of the cavern that none of her men now stood, and she looked to that part to see what had moved, narrowing her eyes in the process.

A pair of steely yellow eyes gleamed back at her hers, and a shining gem atop the head that held those eyes glowed eerily as well. Her eyes widened, and her mouth formed the words, just as her mind and heart grasped what was about to happen. One of her men beat her to it. "Metalheads!" he cried, as one, a grunt that had been lurking in another, forgotten corner, lunged at him.

She turned around at this, and started to run to the center of the open cavern, as Metalheads of all shapes and sizes materialized out of the shadows. As she moved, the ground beneath her feet, and a stinger appeared, nearly knocking her off balance. Quick witted as she was, she switched her footing carefully, brought out her gun, and fired on the stinger twice before it fell dead. Not bothering to savor her victory over a useless stinger, she hurried forward to the center of the cavern, where her men clumped together in fear, their weapons raised to aim, but not to fire.

"You idiots!" she shouted at them. "It's a Metalhead ambush!" she said this as a series of grunts, Juice Goons, and even a couple Crabheads moved forward to deal out their their usual round of fatal blows. "They were waiting for us all along.."she murmured to herself. "I should have seen this coming." Then louder to her men she shouted, "What the hell are you waiting for? Shoot them! And protect the Artifacts!"

A fury of fire could be heard next, as the KG opened fire on the approaching scourge of Metalheads. Ashelin flipped out of the way herself, as a juice goon attempted to fire its deadly bolts of red eco at her. She dodged again, as another one moved in on her, and flipped towards the back wall of the cavern, firing on them as she did so. She managed to take one out, before she completely ran out of ammo and had to reload, slowing her down, and allowing the still remaining juice goon to creep up on her. It leaned back to fire on her, paused, looked up and shifted its aim to the cieling. In a flash, she stopped loading her pistol, glanced up and quickly realized why as a furious stream of red eco bolts hit a stalagmite wedged into the cieling, sending it crashing to the floor. She rolled out of the way, as it fell, narrowly missing her in the process.

On the ground, she glared at her assailant, brought her pistol up to aim at it, as she finished loading it, and then paused for a brief second. "Two can play at this game," she muttered to herself, shifting her aim to a second stalagmite above the Metalhead, and firing at it. The much slower juice goon did not move nearly as quickly as had, and it let out a screach of agony as the stalagmite fell and impalled her.

Once down, she stood up and surveyed her troops, only to find, with a heavy heart, that many of them had been downed. No more of the juice goons remained, but 5 crabheads stood clumped in a corner, aiming ceaselessly on her men as they tried to fire back. And even as she realized that they were losing, more Metalheads materialized from the shadows further down in the cavern. Juice goons and a few Metal Jackets, as well as some stingers. At this, she began to realize that she had underestimated the size of this cavern.

She leapt down toward a clump of her men that were still alive and kicking, and began to assist them in the fire, even as the thoughts "we're screwed" entered her mind. She fired, and they fired, a few more juice goons fell, along with all the Metal Jackets, and 3 of the remaining crabheads. Still more Metalheads came, and the surviving ones crept up on the remaining KG with the deadly knowledge that they would sieze this day, and this mission. Ashelin looked down at her weapon, realized it needed to be reloaded, and set about to reloading it. "It's hopeless," one of the men standing next to her muttered. And she couldn't argue with him. Things did, indeed, seem bleak. The Metalheads had them surrounded, and were slowly and forcefully backing them into a corner.

Her men held their fire, taking in the situation around them, just as their leader realized that something else was going on. The Metalheads were planning something...

No sooner had she thought that, when one let out a cry, and fired on the ground beneath their feet. It crumbled, sank, and gave way altogether.

Something heavy, and dark, and cold hit her, nearly knocking her senses from her body as she, and the remaining KG around her sank into what she quickly realized was a pool of water. She smirked as she kicked about, trying to reach the surface, wondering what the dangers of water could do to her and her men.

Then a sickening realization came to her as she heard the pleas of help, muffled by the water, of her comrades around her, as they sank like rocks into the abyss below her. Their armor, their godsend in battle on land and any other situation, would be their seal of doom in water. She watched as they sank, watched as they tried to shift about, but could barely move, watched as the darkness claimed them one by one.

Her armor had a distinct advantage over theirs; it was lighter and allowed for her agility. It also meant that in water, she would float.

One knew this, and this final guard, latched onto her arm as he sank, lulling her with his pleas of help, yet dragging her to her doom all the same. "Let go," she shouted into the murky water, but the soldier shook his head. "Let go!" she yelled even harder, attempting to jerk away from, but finding that move to be futile. Then she took her pistol, nodded her head at him in a "don't make me have to do this" way, and cracked it against his face, in a forceful attempt to cause him to losen his grip.

It was the fury of eco fire raining down from above that caused him to lose his grip on her and join the rest of his rank, not her forceful use of the pistol. She looked up, realized that the Metalheads were firing to make sure that all of those who had sank into this abyss stayed there, and deftly tried to swim to the surface, if for only to catch a breath of much needed air, let alone search for a place to hide from their fire.

As she swam furiously, a blast of dark eco caught her shoulder, ripping through the makeshift armor she wore there. She screamed as agony as the dark eco hit so deeply it drew blood. For a moment, it knocked her off course, even as she saw that she was only inches away from the surface. She fell back, watching the blood, her blood, float to the surface and hang their. Through the shifting water, once murky, but now even more so with the her own blood and the blood of her comrades merging with, she saw the Metalheads, and almost swore that they smirked with delight at this sight of bloodshed. Indeed, they ceased their fire, and stepped away from the water pool slowly.

Meanwhile, Ashelin, wounded, ceased her shifting more out of shock then in a gesture of hopelessness, and simply floated just below the surface. Empty, shifting thoughts ran through her mind, and one rather funny, yet innappropriate one caught her attention for a single fleeting second, before her sense regained control of her.

"So _this_ is where the water came from..."


	10. It won't let me type in the full title!

Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters (unless otherwise stated). They are all copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA.

Once again, another chapter. And once again, I aim not to disappoint. I must apologize, again, for any typos found in the last chapter. I admit I rushed it, and didn't proofread it like I should have after I had written it, since I was in a hurry to move onto something else. So I found that words were left out and stupid mistakes were made everywhere, when I went back to read it over. Anyways, I will make sure that I don't make mistakes like that in this chapter.

Thanks to all who reviewed: musicboxfan, Ecohorse and Jak Fan.

And thanks to all who read but didn't review. I hope you found the story just as interesting as the above did.

And now, the long awaited Chapter Nine...which is just as long as the previous chapter. Actually, it's longer, I think.

Chapter Nine...For those Strong Enough to Claim It

As Ashelin floated, still as can be, her senses returned to her, and she drifted slowly to the surface to catch a much needed breath of air. She tried not to gasp as she resurfaced, and instead took in a deep breath slowly, finding that the hazy, black edges that rimmed her eyesight slowly disappeared as she did so.

Now what to do was the next question?

She knew she had to get out of the water, and bandage her profusely bleeding left shoulder. Staying in the water would mean a quicker death, but she wasn't sure exactly how she would make her exit. She bobbed about for several seconds, using her legs to keep her afloat, and let her senses take in everything. The sounds of shuffling and screaching reached her ears; the Metalheads were still about, and she could see that they were a long way from where she was by following the glowing orbs atop their head as they moved about in the distance.

They were far away, she could tell, so far away that if she climbed out now, and ducked behind a series of rock formations she noted just off to the right of the pool of water, she may have a chance at safety and a good hiding spot. Slowly, gently, she pulled herself out of the pool of water, using her right arm moreso than the wounded left. She heaved herself out, trying to be as quiet as possible, and stood up, before moving as quietly as possible, watching each step as she moved, to the first of the rocks, where she ducked down behind it. After a few seconds of gasping for breath, she peaked around the top of the rock to find that the Metalheads were still oblivious, and had, in fact, moved farther down the cavern from her position.

She shifted her weight as she crouched, and slid further along behind each rock, finding a nice tall slab of one that she could lean against and begin to try to heal her wounded shoulder.

All the while she moved, she thought of the predicament she found herself in. The Metalheads were far more clever than she gave them credit for. They had known about this hidden water pool, had known that her father's men could not swim in water with their heavy armor on, and, armed with this information, could set up a wonderfully laid trap using it. Then, with the their larger numbers as an advantage over the KG, as well as their ability to blend with the shadows, they could surround their enemy in an ambush and force them into such a very well thought out trap. Then with all of the KG dead, the Precursor artifacts would be their's for the taking.

It was all so simple, yet effective.

Thoughts turned to her own plan of action suddenly. Beyond bandaging her wound, should she abort the mission and try to find a way out of the cavern? Would that in itself be an impossible task? Or should she try to continue the mission by taking out as many Metalheads as she could through stealth and then make way with as many Precursor artifacts as possible? She knew she could be just as stealthy as any Metalhead, if need be, and under any other circumstances, she would have considered the latter choice over the former in an instant.

But in her condition, not wounded, but pregnant, was it worth the risk, now that she was not only taking her own life into her hands, but the life she now carried, so tiny and small, within her.

Still, this added responsibility didn't mean that she should neglect all of her others, when she may just have a chance at completing her father's mission.

She shook her head at her own thoughts. Bandaging her wound was the first priority, then she would make plans for her next move.

From a pack she had strapped to her waist, she took out a bottle of green eco, and a bandage, drenched through and through from her fall into the abyss, but still usable. She opened the bottle, poured some of the contents of it, warm to the touch, onto the cloth, and then began to wrap it around her shoulder, tying it tightly in place as she did so.

She could feel the effects of the green eco almost immediately, as it seeped through the bandage onto her skin and then shifted its warmth up and down her left arm and shoulder. Once she felt that she had given herself enough eco, she slowly began to make plans for her next move. She stood and looked over the top of the rock she was hiding behind, and glanced off into the darkness. She knew that the shelves that housed the Precursor artifacts were directly in front of her, along a wall that was a good distance a way.

She then turned her attention to the moving Metalheads, and counted them by their glowing skull gems. All in all, they totalled out to a number of seven. Three stood along the wall where the shelves were, but further down along it, so that they weren't directly in front of her. The other five moved off into the distance, pacing back and forth, like restless animals. And she knew from their movements that there was a good chance that more Precursor artifacts could be found in that direction as well.

So the question came: to escape or to recover the artifacts? Her mind decided on the former much faster than she would have liked it too. Escape, while probably the best option, sounded far to cowardly for her nature. Besides, she found that the more she thought of her fallen comrades, the more she wanted to settle those odds with the price of of Dark Eco: the precious life blood of a Metalhead. So she was pregnant, but that didn't mean that she couldn't take care of business.

After all, she had been in graver situations, and had gotten through them just as quickly as she was about to get through this one.

She had stealth on her side, and, she noted, more than enough ammo in her gun to take out the last remaining few Metalheads. The prize she would earn would be the satisfaction that the deaths of a few good men were repayed with the deaths of a few terrible Metalheads, and her father would get his Precursor artifacts.

Her mind made up, and the wound in her left shoulder nearly healed from the green eco, she smirked, stood up, and moved forward into the darkness and towards the shelves. Here, unfortunately, only the darkness of the caverns was her cover. There were no more rock formations to hide behind. She had to make it to the wall where the shelves were, where she noted some more rock formations that she could hide behind. There, her stealthy moves would have to kick into overdrive. She would need to get as close to a Metalhead as possible, in order to deliver the fatal blow: a swift strike to the skull gem, which was akin to a strike to the heart of any human. It would crumble to its death without a sound after that. She could take out the three against the back wall with this method, and then open fire on the last five, aiming for their skull gems as well, before they would even know what had hit them.

She moved, came to the rock formations, and slid down behind them. The three Metalheads were standing off to her left, occupied with the artifacts. One was a little closer to her than the others, and he would be her first target. As he stood stationary, she picked up a small stone, held it in her hand and threw it gently, so that it made a rough noise as it hit the ground next to her.

That noise caught the attention of her prey, just as she had meant it too, and she ducked down further behind the rocks that hid her so well in the darkness. As the Metalhead walked passed her, searching for the source of the sound, she stood up, and brought the top of her pistol down as hard as she could on the Metalhead's skull gem. It produced the desired effect: the Metalhead crumbled into a heap of dark eco, dead, and the skull gem rolled off to the side.

This action also caught the attention of its comrades, which she could tell by their form and the way they moved, were two juice goons. They slowly advanced on the scene of the sneak attack. In response to this, she quickly ducked down behind the rock formation as they slowly crept up to examine the remains of their fallen comrade. She heard them both screaching and crying, as if in talk, they were trying to find the cause of death for their co-patriot.

It was no matter for them, for they were about to die just as quickly as the fallen one. She leaned back, and shifted her pistol into "Silence" mode and then stood up. Both Metalheads were facing away from her, but their skull gems were still visible, and still able to be targeted. She aimed at the one closest to her, brought it's source of life in her sights, began to press on the trigger...

...when an unidentified source of light caught her attention, as it flew through the air, illuminating the high walls of the cavern with its brightness. It arched up and into the air, then hurtled down to the ground, where it exploded in a burst of smoke and bright fire. The blast of it sent her and the Metalheads in front of her hurtling into the wall behind them. While the rest of the Metalheads off in the distance began milling around like a series of crazed ants whose nest had just been destroyed by a devilish child, letting out little cries of terror in the process.

The source of light, she found, was little more than a flare that continued to burn brightly from its spot in the center of the cavern's floor.

It served for one devastating purpose: to reveal her position to the Metalheads she was trying to sneak up on, and to reveal her as the culprit behind the death of their fallen co-patriot.

Even as she pushed herself against the wall, and attempted to reach for her gun, which had been knocked out of her hand by the blast, the first juice goon, ironically enough the one she had chosen to target first, moved in and struck her hard across the face and neck, knocking her, with a cry of frustration, to the ground.

Reaching up, she touched the side of her face, only to find bloody scratch marks. Angrily, she shifted her wieght, tried to stand, but found that both Juice Goons had fully gotten the best of her. The first one fired electric bolts of red eco from the top of its long spear weapon at her, forcing her back down with a cry of pain. The other one followed up the first one's attack with a similar one.

And so a vicious cycle began of deadly electrocution. As pain seared through her body, she let out a cry of agony, even as she desperately tried to force herself to stand against their attacks. This endeavor was futile, and she evantually gave up hope, as darkness rimmed her vision, and her hearing blurred. Before she completely surrenderd to the pain, she caught two large figures running through the entrance of the cavern.

"Metalheads!" the first one cried.

"Fire on 'em!" the second one answered.

She heard shots being fired. One of the juice goons attacking her fell to the ground, presumably dead.

But before she could analyze who these figures were, and what they were doing here, the darkness that rimmed her vision completely overtook her, and she passed out.

--------

She heard voices as she came too. Gruff voices that came from the two figures she had seen before she passed out. They stood over her now, glancing down at her as she recovered from the dizzying Metalhead attacks. "We got 'em all, every last son of a bitch," the first one said.

"And surprisingly enough, all of the artifacts are intact as well."

"But it looks like we weren't alone in the discovery of this cavern."

"Yeah," the second one shifted his gun. "It looks like the good ole Baron's been down here too. Or at least his men were."

The first one knelt beside her, and turned her face gently to face his. "This the only one to survive the attack, and it has to be a female too. Makes it hard to carry out Damas's orders regarding the Baron's men."

"Yeah, I know what you mean..."

The first one continued to examine her closely. "She's injured pretty badly. It's a shame."

"We could always bring her back to Damas and say she was one of the artifacts," the second one said with a chuckle.

"Right, and one look at these symbols on her armor and clothing, and he'd cast us both out into the desert on our asses for defying him. But it's still a shame though, nothing we can do. We should just let her die from her own wounds, and not bring about her own death."

Ashelin, who had come to full consciousness somewhere in the midst of their conversation, lifted her head up and let out a groan. This caught both of the figure's attention. "Don't you dare leave me here to die..." she murmured.

"What 'id you say?" the first one snapped as he lifted her head.

"Don't leave me here to die. I can be quite useful. Just don't abandon me."

The second one let out a hearty chuckle. "She's pleading for her life. Awww man, that makes it even harder."

She glared up at the still kneeling first figure, catching his dark eyes with her fierce golden ones. "Y'know," he said to the second one, without even turning his gaze away from her. "Who says we gotta bring her back to Spargus. We could always dump her off at the Precursor Monk Temple, and let the monks deal with her. That way, we don't have to risk incuring Damas' wrath for saving a lackey of the Baron's."

The second one answered with silence first, and then finally with words. "That sounds like a plan to me, aye."

"Lets do it."

The first one stood, and then gently lifted her. She murmured a soft "Thank You" to him, before he tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of vegetables, and both figures turned to exit the cavern.


	11. Chapter 10 A Chain Reaction

Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, they are copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA. You should know this by now.

Anyways, thanks to all those who reviewed: Jak Fan

I know, not many people, but still.

I hope those who are reading it found it just as enjoyable as the above did.

On to the next chapter.

Chapter 10. A Chain Reaction...

He became aware of voices first, hushed voices, speaking over him. One masculine and one feminine.

"He's lucky to be alive..."

"Yes, but I wouldn't say that, after what I've heard the Baron saying about him."

"He's lost favor in the Baron's eyes?"

"Oh yes, very much so, with this last mission."

"What a shame."

He opened his eyes, blaring light seared through them, he shut them again. Then he reopened them slowly, and caught the faces of the speakers, a young nurse and an older doctor, before they turned away from him.

He shifted his weight, found that he was laying on a hospital bed, wearing next to nothing and covered with a thin blanket. An IV tube was attached to his left wrist, where a steady stream of green eco purred its way up his arm, into his shoulder and the rest of his body. It's warmth soothed him, kept him calm, even as a voice that almost always grated on his nerves could be heard speaking not too far a distance from him.

"Is he awake?" the voice, deep in vibratto asked.

"I am not sure, sir."

"Wake him up if he isn't."

"Sir, I do not know if I can do that..."

"Are you defying my orders you snivelling little rat of a doctor?"

"N-No, my liege. I'll do it."

Silence, and he managed to turn his head slightly in the direction of the speaker, clearly the Baron. The doctor came up to him and looked at him, before calling back to the Baron. "He's awake, sir."

The big man came barrelling through what appeared to be a maze of beds, each containing a wounded soldier hooked up to a green eco life support system of sorts. The Baron ignored each one and focused his attention on his commander, approaching him and leaning over him, so that all Torn could see was the fierce one eye of his Lord, twitching in anger.

"Commander," he started.

"Sir," Torn hissed weakly before.

"Do you realize what has happened?"

"No, sir."

"Well, you imbecile!" his voice raised in anger, catching the attention of some of the nearby nurses and doctors. "You _lost_ the drill platform to the Metalheads! My main eco supply is gone because of you! The place is a wreck! Gone, Gone! and because of you!" The tyrant was screaming so loud that everyone on the floor of the hospital grew silent and watched from a distance as he assaulted the poor commander with vicious words.

"All of my men have been lost, with the exception of the few good men, unlike you, who are still fighting for their lives here! What am I supposed to do? Why don't you tell me, and try to redeem yourself if you can?"

Torn's only answer was to smirk up at the Baron. "Sir, I can only say one thing."

"And that is?"

"If you had granted me the men I asked for before this horrible assault, we would not be having this conversation."

This made the Baron turn red with fury, but Torn continued on, unabashed.

"I asked you for more men and rations. I knew I was outnumbered, when faced with Metalhead Cloakers and Metal Jackets and Grunts in large numbers, all masking their attacks with the harsh weather the location of the drill platform is prone to getting. I implored you for more numbers, knowing that we were outnumbered and our chances of winning were a hundred to one, but did you grant me those men when I asked? No, instead you pointed your finger at me, just as you are doing now, for losing in the face of terrible odds."

"Are you done?" the Baron hissed, seething with rage.

"Yes, I only wanted to point that out to you."

"You, why you! How _dare _you try to blame this on _me?_ You had enough men to take care of business, you snivelling little-You _wasted _them and their skills! And you have the _nerve _to point your finger at me and blame me for these shortcomings of _yours!" _The Baron moved behind Torn's bed, and laid his twitching, fat hand on the top of the green eco life support system"The doctors here tell me that you are still quite weak, and without support from green eco, your chances of dying would greatly increase. With that in mind, I oughta to unplug your life support system right now and leave you to die in agony for all the _agony_ you've caused me!" The Baron reached up, found the the point where the long IV tube entered a sack filled with green eco, and grabbed onto it, with deep intentions of pulling it out. This caused a gasp from the doctors and nurses around him, and he glared at them all, earning their silence and respect almost instantly.

"Go ahead," Torn groaned back. "After what I've seen, I'm not afraid to die..."

There was a tense silence. The Baron's fingers tightened on the tube...

...and then laxened. "But I won't," he said in a quiet, but deadly tone. "You were once an excellent soldier and even better commander, and knowing all of that, I'm going to give you a chance to redeem yourself from this horrible mistake in your career. I will give you command of one more mission, of what I will not say yet, and you had better, for yourself, carry it out successfully, or you will know the full extent of my wrath. Is that understood, commander?" his Lord hissed in a tone laden with painstaking severity.

It took several seconds before Torn finally answered. "Yes...sir.." he finally weakly made out.

"Good," the Baron stepped back from the bed, and turned to his top commander, who was standing patiently behind the Baron the whole time this tirade was going on. "My Lord?" he spoke up finally, catching the Baron's attention.

"What is it Commander Errol?"

"I have a report for you, sir, concerning the the Precursor Artifact mission...and your daughter."

The Baron glanced down at his commander, before he turned and headed for the hospital wing exit. Errol followed him closely behind. "Tell me more," the Baron said.

"Well, sir..she's gone-" They were gone before Torn could hear anymore.

He laid on his back, wondering what kind of dillemma he had gotten himself into, while doctors and nurses shuffled about the floor, looking down at him with pity as they passed his bed. Before long, he sank into a deep sleep...


End file.
